Editorial: Cellphone ban appropriate

Amarillo’s proposed ban on cellphone use by drivers is good policy, and city commissioners should approve it when they meet on Tuesday.

It’s time for Amarillo to join a growing number of communities taking a stand against motorists chatting behind the wheel — an activity some research has suggested is as dangerous as driving while intoxicated.

Granted, there’s plenty of disagreement about the risks, and critics argue that penalizing cellphone use is an assault on personal liberty. Those same critics might cry foul at this publication’s support of the proposal, given the Globe-News opposed an indoor smoking ban on grounds it was an overreach into individual rights.

But the cellphone ordinance and the smoking ban are apples and oranges. People have a choice whether to patronize or work at an establishment that allows smoking. They don’t have a choice as to whether the car coming at them at 45 mph is being driven by someone who’s babbling away on the phone, their mind somewhere far away from the road.

So do it, commissioners. Pass the ordinance. Make Amarillo’s roads a little safer.

Will the ban solve the problem of distracted driving? Nope. Critics are absolutely correct in saying cellphone use is just one symptom of a larger problem.

But it’s a very, very common symptom. A lot of us are aware chatting while driving might not be the best idea, but we do it, anyway. Knowing there are legal consequences will prompt a lot of people to pull over before they make a call.

This is where critics make another argument — pulling over can be unsafe in itself. True, but drivers pull off the roads millions of times a day without a problem. Plus, if a driver can’t even pull over safely, how would you feel about being on the road with that driver while he or she was yammering on a cellphone?

Again, it would be foolish to argue the ordinance is a cure-all. The danger involved in drivers’ use of electronics is not going to go away — at least until vehicle manufacturers stop loading up increasingly sophisticated computer systems and electronics makers decide there’s no more money in portable technical gadgets.That’s just not going to happen.

Heck yeah, they do. But cracking down on cellphone use while driving is a reasonable approach to a widespread concern involving a particularly common piece of equipment. Finding someone without a cellphone these days is pretty rare.

True, it would probably be impossible to pass ordinances against everything that contributes to distracted driving. Ask law enforcement officers, and they’ll tell you incredible stories about the knuckleheaded things they’ve seen people doing while driving — shaving, reading books, eating with both hands, typing on a laptop and the ever-popular application of cosmetics.

Given that reality, the issue really boils down not to an ordinance but to personal responsibility and common sense. But not everyone exercises either of those things when cellphones and driving are involved, do they?